


Unloved Pumpkins at the Haunted Corn Maze

by vivilove



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Corn Mazes, F/M, Fluff, Halloween, Pining Sansa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:08:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27207133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivilove/pseuds/vivilove
Summary: “Right. Well, you’re welcome to come. There’s a pumpkin patch or hayride if you want to wait for us there.”“Why would I want to go on a hayride alone? And who’s picking pumpkins on Halloween night? Won’t all the pumpkins be picked?” (Honestly, she’d be very sad if there were any pumpkins left behind and would want to take them with her.)“But…Sans, it’s a haunted corn maze. I don’t think it’ll be your thing.”Thus, Pride had had its say and insisted that of course she would enjoy going to a haunted corn maze on Halloween and how dare anyone suggest otherwise.
Relationships: Jon Snow/Sansa Stark
Comments: 43
Kudos: 150





	Unloved Pumpkins at the Haunted Corn Maze

**Author's Note:**

  * For [patritxi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/patritxi/gifts).



> For Patritxi's prompt on Tumblr- "we need to run, now!"

Halloween night. What on earth had made her agree to this?

_Pride._

_Oh yeah._

Look, it’s not like she doesn’t love her siblings. She does.

But sometimes, they have a knack for making Sansa feel like an outsider in her own family. It’s not intentional but a lot of the stuff she likes just doesn’t appeal to the others and vice versa.

And one thing they all seem to love which Sansa does not is scary stuff. Horror movies, haunted houses, Halloween stuff.

Even Jon, who isn’t technically a sibling but gets treated like one by everyone else, has more in common with them than Sansa does, it seems.

So, when she’d asked Arya what she was doing this Saturday night, not remembering that it was October 31st and therefore Halloween, she’d been told she was going to the corn maze.

_“A corn maze? Who’s going?”_

_“Me and Gendry are going to meet Robb and Jon who are taking Bran, Rickon and some friends there.”_

_“The boys are going too?”_

Their little brothers are still underage so it wasn’t the usual Saturday night pub crawl that Sansa has occasionally joined the others in. (Which she’s joined them for more frequently since breaking up with her boyfriend three months ago.)

_“Yeah.”_

_“Well, it sounds fun…”_

She’d let that linger, waiting to see if her sister would extend an invitation. Her stomach had knotted up at the thoughts that the offer might not come but Arya hadn’t let her down, not exactly.

_“Right. Well, you’re welcome to come. There’s a pumpkin patch or hayride if you want to wait for us there.”_

_“Why would I want to go on a hayride alone? And who’s picking pumpkins on Halloween night? Won’t all the pumpkins be picked?”_ (Honestly, she’d be very sad if there were any pumpkins left behind and would want to take them with her.)

_“But…Sans, it’s a haunted corn maze. I don’t think it’ll be your thing.”_

Thus, Pride had had its say and insisted that of course she would enjoy going to a haunted corn maze on Halloween and how dare anyone suggest otherwise.

Alright, she’d looked wistfully at the little shed where they were selling popcorn, caramel apples and hot apple ciders upon their arrival. She might have even sighed seeing the young couples wearing gloves with rosy cheeks climbing onto the haybales for their hayride. But she’d marched determinedly up to the booth ahead of everyone else to buy her ticket first because Sansa Stark is _not_ a fraidy cat.

Which has led to her current predicament.

“We have to run, now!” Rickon shouts as the chainsaw-wielding murderer gets closer.

Yes, part of her agrees. Her fight or flight instincts are kicking in with flight winning. Every hair on her head is standing on end. _Why does a power tool get to have that level of impact on my psyche when I’ve never even seen that movie?!_

But running doesn’t seem like the answer to her logical mind. They’re all together, a pack. That’s how they’d got past the zombies after their first wrong turn. They’d been hemmed in until Jon had spied the exit path. They’d shuffled along as one with Sansa and Rickon’s friend Shireen doing their best to be as much in the middle of their group as possible. (Clearly, the girl was scared and _wanted_ to hold Sansa’s hand, okay?) Anyway, they’d out-shuffled those zombies and been in the clear for five whole minutes before this Leatherface guy showed up.

So, that is obviously the solution here. They should stick together, not take off in the middle of a huge ass corn maze in the dark in three different directions.

Unfortunately, that’s precisely what Rickon and his friends do.

“No, we don’t need to run! Kids, we’re… _ugh!”_

Robb shouts after them as well to no avail. “Rickon Stark, if you don’t get your ass back here this second I am never taking you and your friends anywhere ever a-…shit.” They now have three 12-years-olds to hunt down in the middle of a corn maze. “Okay, Arya and Gendry take this path. Bran, you come with me down that one. Jon, you and Sansa look for them that way.”

Sansa tries not to grimace. It’s not a grimace of distaste. It’s a grimace of something else. Based on the way Jon scowls, she knows she didn’t succeed in not grimacing. Well, he was already scowling. Scowling is kind of a go-to look for him in social settings. (Don’t tell but it’s a surprisingly good look on him.)

“Fine. Come on,” he mutters, leading the way with one of the three flashlights they’d brought between them.

It’s not that she dislikes Jon. She hopes he doesn’t dislike her though they’ve never been as close as he is with the others. She’d like to be closer maybe. In fact, she’s teetering pretty firmly in the opposite direction of dislike, has been for the past month or so since she’d got over her break up (nothing that serious anyway) and started spending more time with him and the others on Saturday nights.

Yeah, Robb sniggers when she orders her daquiris instead of the ales they all drink but Jon doesn’t. He’s really pretty sweet about fetching drinks and often offers to give her a lift home. He’s actually kind of funny when he loosens up a bit, too.

But he’s Jon. He’s known her since she was three. Those little flutters she’s starting to notice around him are obviously the effect of the alcohol, right?

_Except you’ve not had anything to drink tonight._

So, why the grimace? Well, because she likes Jon and she’s already a little afraid of embarrassing herself out here which means it’s bound to happen.

_Maybe I should’ve just rode the hayride alone. I could’ve saved all the unloved pumpkins and stuffed them in the back of Robb’s SUV, too._

They set off down one of the paths, the mowed down corn stalks and mud squishing beneath their boots while they’re surrounded on all sides. She’s glad they’ve got a full moon. It’s a blue moon. They’re already rare but on Halloween? That seems pretty special. It’d feel romantic in other circumstances.

_Like side by side on a hayride. He might offer me his jacket and…_

_Ugh, would you stop? You’re not on a date with Jon._

“Ow! Will you watch it?!”

She’d been staring up at the moon and hadn’t realized Jon had come to a halt. She’s run right into his back, her boots catchin his own boot-covered ankles. He’s more solid than you’d think just looking at him. He also smells good…and she’s a clumsy dork.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” He’s looking around, listening.

“What is…”

She doesn’t get the rest of her sentence out because someone has grasped her arm.

_Someone who isn’t Jon._

She’s screaming bloody murder and there’s maniacal laughter coming from the close-packed stalks that surround them. Yes, they’d been told they might be lightly touched by performers during their ‘experience.’ They’d had to sign waivers that they agreed to that and that they wouldn’t physically retaliate. Sansa is not remotely a violent person but, right now, she’s ready to knock the living daylights out of whoever grabbed her arm.

She’s pulled herself into the middle of the path, not that it’s that wide, and is hugging herself and shaking once the hand lets go of her.

“Hey, it’s okay. Let’s move this way,” Jon says, pulling her down the path away from whoever that was hiding back in the corn.

He thinks he has to protect her, like she’s some little girl who can’t handle a scare.

She mutters she’s fine. She is fine but also embarrassed. And yeah, there’s the chainsaw in the distance again and this whole experience is making her jumpy. It may be a bit obvious.

“Why’d you come tonight?”

“Huh?” She’d been walking along, lost in her thoughts. She glances over at Jon and it clicks what he asked. “I don’t know. I like hanging out with everyone.”

“We like you hanging out with us but I didn’t think a haunted corn maze would be your thing.”

“It’s not. I just thought…” She sighs. “I just didn’t want to be left behind.”

He nods thoughtfully. “It’s okay if you don’t enjoy stuff like this.”

“But everyone else does.”

“You don’t have to be everyone, Sansa. You’re perfect the way you are.”

She raises her eyebrows, grinning at him. “I’m perfect?”

“Don’t let that go to your head.” He starts grinning back. His grins are even hotter than his scowls.

“Thanks, Jon.”

“And I wouldn’t have left you behind. I mean if…” He scrubs at his beard, looking a little embarrassed himself. “I would’ve stuck with you outside the maze while everyone did this.”

“You would?!” He would?!

“Yeah.”

“I wouldn’t want to hold you back from having a good time with everyone else.”

“I’ve done corn mazes before. You wouldn’t be holding me back from having a good time. Not that I’m much company or…”

_“GARRRRR!!! MU-WAH-HAHA!!!”_

A horrific looking clown comes out of the corn right behind them…carrying a huge freaking axe?!

 _And we’re screaming again,_ she notes internally as she grasps Jon’s arm.

The thing is, he’s shouting, too. “We need to run, now!”

He half drags her along but she’s not complaining. She’s too busy trying not to hyperventilate.

They run until they run out of path. They run until they’re both laughing at themselves and each other for running. They run until they realize they’re surrounded by the warmth of glowing lights and cute carved pumpkins instead of corn with the smell of apple cider and popcorn in the air. They’ve escaped the maze.

Rickon and his friends are all sitting together at one of the nearby tables, eating caramel apples and popcorn in huge bites. Her little brother laughs when she attempts to scold him for running off, saying he figured everyone else could find their own way out. “I mean, we found our way and we’re just kids.”

“Should we go back in and look for the others?” Jon asks her.

“No, they can find their way out, can’t they?”

Surely, they can. Besides, she’s got a few unloved pumpkins to save. Jon doesn’t say a peep. Just helps her load them into the back of Robb’s SUV.

“I love toasted pumpkin seeds.”

“Me, too.”

And when her and Jon decide to go on the hayride after sharing some apple cider a short time later, Sansa decides she hopes it takes them a little longer to find their way out of the maze. Especially when Jon drapes his jacket over her shoulders as they hold hands under the full blue moon.


End file.
